Portuguese beet and potato casserole

This simple beet casserole can be a meal in itself, or it can be used as an entree. It contains all the health benefits of cooked beets, plus a full range of essential protein and a small portion of fat in the form of butter.

A Portuguese acquaintance described this dish to me, but this recipe is my own version of Portuguese beet and potato casserole. First, rather than simply using ordinary white potatoes, I've used a selection of Little Gems: purple, red and white. Also, I used red onion rather than yellow cooking onion, and Almond milk rather than the dairy milk which would normally found in a Portuguese home.

Portuguese beet and potato casserole

Yield: 4 - 6 servings

Oven: 190℃ (350 ℉)

Ingredients:

1 cup mashed purple, red and white Little Gem potatoes with skins intact

1 cup red onion, thinly sliced

2 medium-sized beet roots, steamed, grated

 2 eggs, lightly beaten

½ cup grated Parmesan

½ cup Almond milk, scalded

 1 tablespoon butter (or ghee), plus 1 teaspoon butter to coat the oven dish

fresh ground sea salt

 fresh ground black pepper corns

Preparation:

1. Prepare oven dish by rubbing the inside with 1 teaspoon of butter. Set aside.

2. Mix the grated beet, mashed potato and sliced onion.

3. Beat eggs lightly, then add Parmesan. Combine. Fold into beet mixture.

4. Add milk, 1 tablespoon of butter, salt, and pepper. Mix. At this point, the mixture will be purple. Have no fear; heat will alter the colour of this mixture.

5. Turn the mixture out into the prepared oven dish.

6. Bake for 50 - 60 minutes. Serve immediately.

Oven fresh Portuguese beet and potato casserole

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Oven-roasted beet wedges with rutabaga

Beets roasted in the oven together with other root vegetables provide comfort food that is full of the goodness of betaines and other phytonutrients. You might like to eat these vegetables with commercial soured cream, kefir or yoghurt to provide the calcium needed by the magnesium in the beet roots to support healthy muscles.

The creamy, smooth texture of the Hawaiian purple yam contrasts beautifully with the firm texture of the beet wedges and the caramelized rutabaga and carrot.

Oven-roasted beet root wedges, rutabaga,
carrot, purple yam and potatoes

                                                                                 Yield: 4 - 6 servings

Set oven to 425℉  (220℃)

Ingredients:

1 beet root, 7.5 cm. (3 in.) in diameter, cut into wedges

¼ rutabaga, peeled, chopped

3 small white potatoes

3 small red potatoes

3 small purple potatoes

1 carrot, chopped

1 small Hawaiian purple yam

4 garlic cloves, peeled and halved

¼ red onion, peeled, chopped

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Beets, rutabaga and other root vegetables

Preparation:

1. Thoroughly wash all root vegetables under running water to remove sand and soil. Peel the beet, rutabaga and Hawaiian purple yam. 

2. Slice beet into 12 wedges. Place a 2-quart Dutch oven or similar lidded, oven-proof dish.

3. Cut rutabaga, purple yam and carrot into chunks, approximately 1.5 cm. (1/2 in.) thick. Add to the beet wedges.

4. Add small potatoes whole. 

5. Peel garlic cloves, slice each in half, and add to vegetables. Peel ¼ red onion, slice into chunks and add to root vegetables.

6. Dribble olive oil over vegetables. Stir to coat them. Grind sea salt and pepper over the mixture. Cover. 

Beet wedges and other root vegetables plus red onion and garlic

7. Place in oven at 425℉ ( 220℃) for 45 minutes. 

After 30 minutes, test the beets for done-ness by penetrating with an ordinary table fork. Roast uncovered until finish roasting to increase caramelize. When a fork will easily penetrate to the centre of a beet wedge, turn off the heat and remove the vegetables from oven.

8. These roasted root vegetables are delicious with any type of meat or poultry.

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Beet, parsnip and sweet pepper soup

Perk up a cold mid-winter evening with the enervating colours and comforting aromas of this pureed soup.

Beet, parsnip and sweet pepper soup

Cooked beet, purple potato and
carrot

Ingredients (red soup):

½ teaspoon coconut oil

½ cup chopped red onion

½ clove garlic, crushed

1 small beet, steamed, peeled, chopped

½  carrot, steamed, peeled, chopped

2 purple potatoes, steamed, peeled, chopped

1 cup beet stock or chicken stock

                                      

Cooked and diced ingredients
for the yellow soup

Ingredients (yellow soup):            

½ teaspoon coconut oil

½ cup chopped white onion

½ clove garlic, crushed

1 parsnip, steamed, peeled, chopped

1 white potato, steamed, peeled, chopped

½ yellow sweet bell pepper, diced

¼ orange sweet bell pepper, diced

1 cup chicken stock

Garnish: 

1 sprig cilantro

Preparation :

1. Use two saucepans. You will cook in both pots at once, treating each mixture separately. Melt ½ teaspoon coconut oil in each pot. Place red onion and garlic in one (the red pot), and white onion and garlic in the second (the yellow pot).

2. To the red pot, add all items listed under Ingredients (red soup).   

Beet soup (red pot)

3. To the yellow pot, add all items listed under Ingredients (yellow soup).

Parsnip and sweet pepper soup (yellow pot)

4.  Simmer both mixtures for 10 minutes.

5. Decant the contents of the red pot into a blender. Pulse at high speed until the mixture is thoroughly pureed. Pour the red puree back into the red pot and reheat over low heat.

Beet puree

6. Thoroughly wash the blender, then decant the contents of the yellow pot into it. Pulse at high speed, as you did with the red mixture. Pour the yellow puree into the yellow pot and reheat. At this point, you may wish to add salt, pepper or other preferred seasonings to each puree.

Parsnip and sweet pepper puree

8. Ladle ¾ cup red puree into one measuring cup and ¾ cup yellow puree into another measuring cup.

9. Simultaneously, pour into a soup bowl from both measuring cups to create the effect shown in the illustration above. Garnish with a sprig of cilantro.

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